Official Languages Committee on Oct. 4th, 2016

[Denis Vaillancourt]

Not really.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

So you did not have an opportunity to participate in that review.

In terms of immigration, you have perhaps heard about tests required for immigrants. The French-language tests are less available and are also much more expensive.

The Government of Ontario is also asking people to pass the English-language test. Some organizations are recommending, for example, that the second test be less expensive or free, since people are already required to pass a test in French.

Do you have any recommendations on that?

[Denis Vaillancourt]

Absolutely.

Let's talk about the cost of the tests. To our dismay, we learned that in Ontario, the French language proficiency test is European. It's twice as expensive as the English test. It's a test in one of the two official languages. The French test is twice as expensive and takes twice as long to correct.

I'll tell you what Canada can do. We can prepare tests in the country, administer them and correct them ourselves. If that's what it costs to promote linguistic duality, I think that's the price to pay to run our country if we believe in linguistic duality and in Canada's very identity.

On that note, last week, I was speaking with a group of medical students about how both anglophone and francophone medical students must take a test to determine their likelihood of success. However, the test is American. Francophones must take the test in English. If we want to encourage professionals to practice in French, it would be better for them to take the test in their own language. Canada has the expertise to prepare, administer and correct its own tests. We have francophone universities. We have experts everywhere. Why do we purchase things that come from abroad and that cost more?

I was at the Alliance française on Friday. We were celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Maison des étudiants canadiens in Paris. I don't know whether you're familiar with it. One of the French people there told me that he didn't understand why a European test is used to assess language proficiency in Canada. It didn't make any sense to him.

Regarding the issue of the more costly French test, if a francophone immigrant who wants to obtain qualifications must pay more to take a test, he may wonder whether it would be better to follow the English route.

The other aspect I want—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Excuse me, Mr. Vaillancourt, but we must move on to the next speaker.

Mr. Arseneault, you have the floor.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You have four minutes.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Vaillancourt and Mr. Hominuk, thank you for being here. It's very interesting.

I will jump from one subject to another with my questions because I don't have much time.

You have many statistics and studies. Do you have a study conducted in Ontario on francophone immigrants and on the generation that followed those immigrants concerning their attachment to French and to working and studying in French? Do you have statistics on the generation that followed those francophone immigrants in minority communities that show whether they're still living in French?

[Denis Vaillancourt]

We don't have a longitudinal study of that nature. We suspect our retention level is relatively good, but it's not recorded.

I spoke earlier about the white paper. These may be requests that should be integrated into public policy. Perhaps we should invest funds to look at our ability to retain francophone immigrants and our strengths and weaknesses in that area.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

You said earlier that, within six months, you would have a study that lists all the francophone hot spots in Ontario and describes their needs and demands. I imagine the study will mention the government agencies these groups work with and how the federal government can supplement the assistance.

[Denis Vaillancourt]

I'll give you a concrete example. It's called a dashboard. We listed all the projects in the northern table, a region Mr. Lefebvre is somewhat familiar with. I'm not talking about it because he's here, but that's the table I saw at the office this week. We listed all the projects being carried out by community groups in northern and northwestern Ontario, whether they are being carried out by a cultural centre or another entity. We also recorded the basics of the projects.

The interesting thing about our strategic plan is that all the areas are explored, except there's nothing regarding immigration. At the community level, this means that, as an organization that brings people together, we need to work on mobilizing people to become more welcoming toward francophone immigrants.

Northern Ontario has other constraints. It's subject to other pressures. There's an exodus from the north. There's the matter of frontline industries. Nevertheless, as I have just told you, communities are needed to welcome people. If the communities aren't paying attention, plans must be made in that area.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

In case we forget, once the dashboard has been created, could you send it to the clerk of the committee?

[Denis Vaillancourt]

Yes, once it has been created, we can send it. I don't know whether it will be on time, but we can certainly provide some parts of it. It's one of our criteria or deliverables to receive funding. As I told you, we have just started. We have just completed a tour of the province, with our three tables. The dashboard has just started taking shape.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

It's a tremendous amount of work.

I'll change the subject.

Does the Ontario government have a coordination strategy with the federal government to attract francophone immigrants to Ontario?

[Denis Vaillancourt]

There is a desire for one. Dialogue at the federal-provincial level has not been easy in the past. I think there's a new energy. Mr. Hominuk can talk to you more about it, because he was part of a group of experts.

[Peter Hominuk]

I can tell you that a group of experts is currently working for the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, or MCI, on making recommendations to the provincial government. The report hasn't been published yet. I can't tell you what's in it. However, there are recommendations in that direction.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

So, federal public servants will make recommendations to the province of Ontario. And the province of Ontario—

[Peter Hominuk]

No. The Ontario government created the group of experts to explore ways to work with the federal government to achieve the target of 5%.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Arseneault.

The round of questions is over.

Mr. Hominuk and Mr. Vaillancourt, thank you for your presentations. They were very interesting. Thank you again on behalf of the committee.

Ms. Boucher, do you have anything to add?

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

After hearing from the witnesses, I need two minutes to make a proposal to our anglophone friends.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Okay.

We'll suspend the meeting for five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Please take a seat. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we'll continue our study on the roadmap and immigration in francophone minority communities.

We're pleased to have with us the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Ontario and its representatives, Annick Schulz, Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations; and Valérie Sniadoch, Director of Employability and Immigration. Welcome to the committee.

The rules are as follows. You will have about ten minutes to speak about the roadmap and action plan, then committee members will ask questions and provide comments. Afterward, we'll move on to the second step concerning immigration, which will also be followed by questions and comments.

Let's hear from you regarding the first part, the roadmap. You have about ten minutes.

[Annick Schulz, Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for having us.

RDÉE Ontario would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak as part of the study you want to conduct on the roadmap and immigration in francophone and acadian communities.

Since 2001, RDÉE Ontario has been a key player in the francophone and bilingual economic space in Ontario. It's a member from the RDÉE Canada national organization. RDÉE Ontario promotes a strong and responsible economic vision. It has a professional team, and it demonstrates innovation in economic development, entrepreneurship, employability and immigration. We ensure that all players in the francophone and bilingual economic space fully contribute to making Ontario and Canada prosper.

I'll start with a few considerations regarding the roadmap and upcoming action plan. These considerations are in a brief that will be submitted to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Linguistic duality makes our country unique and particularly attractive.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Please slow down a bit so that the interpreters can follow you.

[Annick Schulz]

Yes, excuse me.

It is a fundamental aspect of our Canadian identity. It is also a factor in Canada's economic prosperity. Ontario is a diversified economic ecosystem. In the francophone economic space, bilingualism represents a competitive advantage for new markets, for our entrepreneurs and for our francophone and bilingual businesses in Ontario.

The current growing relationship between the governments of Quebec and Ontario, and their political will to strengthen the Quebec-Ontario economic space to make it a hub of productivity, innovation and exportation, will greatly benefit our businesses and our francophone entrepreneurs, who will be able to develop interprovincial and international markets, and therefore set themselves apart from their competitors.

If bilingualism is a major asset, clearly our prime strength is our francophonie, a culture and language that we share with over 274 million people. The potential for economic opportunities and business development is huge. To that end, the fact that the Province of Ontario recognizes the importance of its francophone character, through its membership in the International Organisation of La Francophonie, is a unique opportunity for the province's francophone entrepreneurs and businesses and a major step forward.

We have identified a number of priorities for the federal government's next action plan. Let's talk about innovation first. RDÉE Ontario considers that francophone and Acadian communities, particularly the franco-Ontarian community, must be able to benefit from optimal use of new virtual platforms, mobile applications, to promote our areas of activity and to be more competitive. We want to have more of a presence in the WebSphere, on the new virtual platforms. For example, we want to create an interactive virtual platform for our entrepreneurs, for our young entrepreneurs and for our employability and immigration sector. My colleague will be able to tell you about the virtual job fair that was held recently, in February.

RDÉE Ontario recommends that the federal government creates a specific digital fund to enable francophone and Acadian communities to fully benefit from these new virtual platforms, to increase the presence of French in the WebSphere and to encourage the move to digital to strengthen the competitiveness of our areas of activity across the country so that we can become true drivers of innovation.

The second priority is to support economic sectors that are both innovative and promising. RDÉE Ontario has targeted two sectors, including the green economy. RDÉE Ontario will invest in the green economy and will be in line with the Eco-West project launched in Manitoba several years ago to reduce greenhouse gases. This project is also supported by RDÉE Canada. Its goal is to support rural and other communities commercializing clean technologies and implementing sustainable infrastructure projects.

The other sector is tourism. Over the years, RDÉE Ontario has developed excellent expertise in tourism through the Circuit Champlain project. It wants to develop more initiatives to promote francophone Ontario. We are also going to start promoting sustainable tourism, especially with the first North American edition of the ECORISMO event, in collaboration with RDÉE Canada.

The third priority is youth. It's very important to introduce the entrepreneurial culture to young people. Recently—last week, I think—the Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française, or FJCF, published a study on the program for youth in the region. It clearly stated that an entrepreneurial culture needs to be developed to keep our young people in the region.

In 2015, the National Research Institute on Linguistic Minorities clearly acknowledged that 12 regions of Ontario have a significant negative migration flow. The migration of young francophones in Ontario is directly related to the jobs available in the regions. As a result, RDÉE Ontario proposes that the federal government put in place a special fund for youth in the regions to encourage our young people to stay.

We would also like the federal government to establish a fund that will help us to ensure a continuum of support services to young people to start a business.

In a moment, my colleague will speak to you in more detail about francophone immigration because she is an expert in it.

Briefly, Ontario is home to 70% of francophone immigrants outside Quebec. Unlike other provinces, Ontario was not identified in the roadmap and, therefore, did not receive funding. To promote francophone Ontario nationally and internationally, we are asking the federal government to put in place a special budget envelope for Ontario, using a model that has been put in place in New Brunswick's roadmap, which was managed by ACOA. We think that this initiative would enable the provincial and federal governments to meet the quotas for francophone immigration that they have set for themselves. Our organizations are excellent in this area, and my colleague will tell you more later.

As for promoting francophone communities outside the country, it is important that, before they enter the country, newcomers know about the francophone and Acadian communities, the vitality, the employability sectors and the organizations that work within our communities. Visibility means knowledge. There is still a lack of knowledge about the vitality of our francophone and Acadian communities. Again, a big marketing investment is needed to promote the pan-Canadian francophone presence outside the country.

Let's talk about intensifying recruitment fairs and missions. RDÉE Ontario will attend Destination Canada, a major event held in Paris and Brussels. However, be aware that we have to cover the cost of our own participation, which is a fairly substantial budget. We have to tighten our belts, but it's important for us to be there. Therefore, the federal government should think about setting aside additional budgets that would enable us to attend events like that.

We are requesting a real increase in the budget envelopes for francophone immigration. My colleague will speak to you about this. Our team is very small and covers the province. Our activities are wide-ranging but to adequately meet the needs on the ground, the budget envelopes given to immigration and employability must be increased.

The last priority in our brief is the sustainability of our fields of expertise. It's clear that it is urgent that multi-year budgets be put in place and increased to improve our human resources, especially in employability and immigration. We must encourage the settlement of our human resources.

Everyone at RDÉE Ontario has professional experience and qualifications. Ms. Sniadoch's team includes human resources counsellors from the private sector. We use our expertise for the benefit of pan-Canadian francophonie because we believe in the cause, but we need to optimally strengthen our capacities for activity in the field and to consolidate our unique professional expertise to adequately respond to economic market trends. Therefore, RDEE Ontario intends to increase its budget envelope.

I'd like to talk about building our capacity. We currently have a team of 25 employees. There are six people at headquarters in Ottawa, 14 economic development officers to cover all of Ontario—it's big, as you know—and five employability and immigration professionals.

In conclusion, RDÉE Ontario is renewing its willingness to work with the federal government in an open and constructive spirit so that the next official languages action plan is focused on a strong, mobilizing economic vision enhanced by strategic orientations that will actively support the economic fabric of our francophone regions, while communicating its relevance to the present and the future for the francophonie in Ontario and in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Ms. Schulz.

We are starting our first round of questions with Mr. Généreux.